13-05-2025
Ministers put surrogacy reforms on back burner
Children born through surrogacy urgently need 'better and clearer laws', lawyers say as they criticise ministers for shelving much-needed reforming legislation.
The UK permits 'altruistic', as opposed to 'commercial', surrogacy — but the arrangements are unenforceable and critics argue that the continued uncertainty created by the law will drive more couples abroad to unregulated companies that exploit women in poverty.
Surrogacy — where a woman bears a child on behalf of another person — has become more common over the past decade, as the age of women at childbirth increases and same-sex couples want children. Last year there were 592 applications for parental orders for children born to surrogate mothers, up almost 25 per cent from 2014. The number of applications regarding children born abroad
